The After Effects of Betrayal
by LilyStem
Summary: It is the last term at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry The Marauder’s 7th and final year. Classes are being held, N.E.W.T.s being prepared for and among other things, relationships are being stretched to their limits. Please R&R! COMPLETE
1. Chapter One

**Chapter One**

"What!" Lily cried, frustration evident in her voice as she gripped the bottle full of black ink firmly in her hand. "HOW ON EARTH CAN YOU EXPECT ME TO BELIEVE THAT!" Lily lost control completely and threw the ink bottle at the stone wall above the fire with all the strength she could muster. The glass exploded into a thousand pieces with an almighty crash.

Lily looked at the wall, her eyes wide with shock. Shaking her head she came back to the present and glared furiously at him.

"You want another chance? Well, Mr. Potter, your chance just flew out the window along with that owl I just sent to Lucius." Lily smiled bitterly. "He has been requesting my company for awhile now." Picking her way between the couches to her bag, she caught a glance at James's startled face.

James couldn't believe what he was hearing. It couldn't be true… Malfoy, the lowliest scum of this school, not fit to lick Lily's shoes had been pestering James's one and only love for her 'company'! Anger and jealousy boiled over in James, his face contorted with almost as much anger as Lily's.

"And you're going to go!" He asked incredulously, flailing an arm dramatically above his head.

"Yes I'm going," Lily snapped, whirling back around to face him, her emerald eyes sparked with anger. "You don't have any control over what I can and can't do." She whispered dangerously.

James, even in this situation, couldn't help but admire Lily in all her beauty as she glared at him. "I wouldn't try even if I wanted to." He whispered back in the same tone, his own hazel eyes narrowed.

With that, he turned on his heel and bounded up the boy's dorm stairs without a backwards glance, leaving a livid Lily Evans behind.

"AAARGH!" She screeched out of frustration and hurled another ink pot at the wall, taking satisfaction in the way it smashed and left splatters of red ink dripping down the wall.

_If this is the way he wants it, then game on…_


	2. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two**

The door swung open with a bang as James stormed into the dormitory, thankful that there was no one else there. He hurled his jumper onto his bed and ran a hand through his hair as he began to pace around the room, still processing what Lily had said.

"…_your chance just flew out the window along with that owl I just sent to Lucius!"_

Grunting in frustration he flung his hands behind his head and kicked his trunk out of anger. Letting out a yelp he hopped on his other foot, trying to sooth the throbbing from his big toe.

"Fucking piece of shit-crap-bloody-hell-stupid-trunk…" He muttered as he hopped over to Sirius's bed and sat down, gingerly nursing his toe. Glaring at his reflection in the dark window James sighed heavily. How could he have let it come to this? All his hard work gone to waste and Lily was about to give herself up to the Slytherin Prince of Filth.

"Why Lily… Why?" He muttered to himself as he carefully stood and tested his sore toe. He limped over to the dormitory door and paused, his hand about to turn the knob. The knob turned of its own accord and swung open, just missing James's nose as he jerked back.

In the door way stood a mildly handsome young man by the name of Sirius Black. Most of the female population of Hogwarts would beg to differ with that comment, proclaiming Black as the "Sexiest thing to walk this earth." But James wasn't concerned with his best friend's features at that point in time.

The grin on Sirius's face faded slightly as he took in James's state. With a swift movement Sirius pushed James back into the room and shut the door with a thud. "What did you do this time?" He asked in a bored tone, an eyebrow raised.

James's head snapped up as he scowled at Sirius.

"What do you mean what did _I_ do?"

Sirius shook his head and sauntered over to the opposite wall and leant on it, hands shoved deep in his pockets. "Well whenever you and Miss I'll-Just-Smash-Glass-Everywhere have an argument, it's usually your fault." He said matter-of-factly, flicking his hair out of his eyes with a casual head toss.

James snorted. "What, so I'm always the one to blame?"

"Uh… Yeah!" Sirius said brightly. "Anyway what did you do?" He asked interestedly. "I've never seen Lilikins so angry before… It was brilliant!"

James covered his face with his hands and sighed heavily. "Dorcas and I were mucking around in the lake and Lily saw us."

Sirius frowned. "That's all?"

"Well… Not exactly." James shifted uncomfortably for a second before continuing. "We were about to kiss when she…" He trailed off, leaving the sentence hanging in the air.

"Ah. Bad luck, mate." Sirius said, clapping James on the shoulder. "So, what are you going to do about it?" He asked, settling himself down next to James and running a hand through his hair.

"I've never seen her so worked up before." James said quietly. "I don't know." He managed to choke out after a few moments silence.

"It'll be alright Jamsie, these things always work out in the end," Sirius said comfortingly as he stretched out on the bed, his hands rested behind his head. "I mean, every time I mess up with a girl she usually gets over it within a day!" he reasoned.

James scowled and punched Sirius playfully on the shoulder. "Yeah, but I'm not the 'Sex-God' Sirius Black, am I?"

"Damn straight!" Sirius said grinning. Sitting up he grabbed a pillow off Peter's bed and whacked James square on the back with it.

Forgetting his dilemma for the time being, James quickly seized his own pillow, it almost instantly making contact with Sirius's head.


	3. Chapter Three

**Chapter Three**

Lily slumped in one of the arm chairs, her hands furiously rubbing her eyes to stop herself from collapsing completely and bursting into tears. Scraping her long red hair into a pony tail, she glared at the dying fire, wishing that everything could just turn back and never have happened.

"_Lily!" Dorcas had pleaded. "No, Lily. Nothing has happened. We were just mucking around!"_

"_Yeah." Lily quickly bent to gather her fallen papers. "Just like last time, isn't it?" She asked, glaring daggers at James. With that, she stalked off to the castle, carefully wiping a lone tear from her cheek…_

"_LILY! LILY, COME BACK! PLEASE!" _

_James's voice had echoed from the lake as Lily ran up the grounds. Determinedly ignoring him she weaved her way through the crowd in the Entrance Hall, disappeared up the flight of stairs and around the corner…_

Maybe she had overreacted. Maybe… Maybe Dorcas was right. Maybe they weren't doing anything. But her pride would not let her admit that she was in the wrong; that she really had just come at the wrong time.

_But what if I hadn't interrupted them then? Then what would have happened… They were so close…_

Lily shivered and tugged a blanket from the far couch. As she stood to wrap the blanket around her, a faint _creak_ of someone clambering through the portrait hole sounded and a silhouetted figure emerged to stand in the doorway.

A frown creased her brow as Lily tried to make out who it was. Her eyebrows shot up in surprise as she recognized the person.

"Remus? What are you doing up?"

Remus smiled somberly and walked over to Lily. "I could ask you the same question."

"You could." Lily said, flopping back down into the armchair, sighing dejectedly.

Remus settled himself in the couch opposite Lily and leant forward, resting his elbows on his knees as he studied her.

"Something happened with James, didn't it?" He asked gently.

Lily nodded numbly, staring disjointedly at the fire and around the room.

"He…and Dorcas…Ugh!" Lily shook her head apologetically and punched the arm of the squashy armchair. "I just can't believe he would… and HER! Suppose to be my friend!"

Remus nodded sympathetically and let her rant. From all the years that he and Lily had completed their Prefect duties together, he knew it was just best to let her get it all out in one go.

"…says they 'weren't doing anything'. HA! Weren't doing anything my ass…"

With one last heaving grunt Lily fell quiet, her arms crossed over her chest as she glared at the wall hanging menacingly.

"Done?" Remus asked, a slight smile on his face.

"Yes." Lily replied grudgingly.

Remus smiled at her. "You know, James is probably upstairs right now, kicking himself – mentally and physically – for stuffing up."

Lily nodded, casting her eyes over to Remus's amused face.

"Yeah I know. And he should be too," she paused and lowered her voice. "I thought he -" She cut off her sentence abruptly and bit her lip.

"Look, thanks for your help Rem, I really appreciate it. But I think that I should go upstairs and… go to sleep."

Remus nodded as Lily stood and replaced the blanket in it's original position. He knew that she was defiantly not going to sleep, but truly needed some alone time. And he could understand that perfectly.

"Well, if you ever need someone to talk to, you know I'm here." He said comfortingly, taking a step towards her.

Before making her way to the steps she swung her arms around Remus's neck in a friendly hug. "Thank - "

"Already getting some action with me out of the picture, eh?"


	4. Chapter Four

**Chapter Four**

Lily's eyes widened at the sound of James's voice from the bottom step of the boy's dormitory.

Quickly letting go of Remus, Lily glared at him.

"How _dare_ you accuse me of ANYTHING! After what you did!" She snarled at him, walking closer to James menacingly.

"After what I did? What, you mean NOTHING?" James scoffed, sauntering casually to one of the couches.

Remus glanced from Lily's look of pure fury to the offhanded look on James's face and gulped.

"Uh… I'll just go upstairs…" He said, though he knew neither of them had really heard him. He quickly darted upstairs to the safety of his dorm where he knew Sirius and Peter would be.

"See ya later, Moony." James muttered as Remus exited upstairs. He moved his gaze to the now almost diminished fire. "So," He began, "You're angry at me becaaauuse…?"

Lily huffed angrily and crossed her arms back over her front. "Because I can't trust you, that's why. Because you keep going off and getting it on with all you're ex-girlfriends, that's why. Because you LIED to me, that's why!" she exclaimed, her voice rising in volume.

James frowned and turned his head to see Lily's livid figure. "Lied to you?" He asked dubiously.

"Yes, LIED." She snapped.

"When have I ever lied to you!" James inquired, incredulously as he stood up and moved so that he was standing on the opposite side of the couch to Lily.

"Well lets see," Lily said sardonically. "There was that one time when you told me you loved me," She started, ticking it off on her finger.

"I still do!" James interrupted. "I would never lie to you about that," He added softly.

Lily snorted. "Yeah, so why are you so happy to go off, _canoodling _with every other girl in your fan-club!"

James simply laughed and shook his head. "My fan-club?" He asked quietly, amused.

Lily nodded, slightly loosing her cool as he moved closer to her.

"When, Miss Evans, have you ever heard of a James Potter Fan-Club?" He murmured.

"I… uh," She gulped and took a deep breath, stepping away from James. "I have seen it. As I'm sure you have too." Lily dropped her arms from their folded position and drew them around herself, as a sort of 'protection' from James.

"Oh them," James replied, nodding his head slowly. "They're the ones that give head to people on their birthdays…" He shrugged and began pacing as Lily moved toward the fire.

"Yes, I'm sure you'd know from experience," Lily muttered darkly, standing with her back to the fire, watching James as he paced aimlessly around the room.

"Mmmaaybe," James growled teasingly, throwing Lily a smirk.

Out of habit, Lily rolled her eyes and shook her head. She was used to him behaving like this.

"That might have been amusing if I wasn't so angry with you." She said quite calmly.

James stopped pacing and walked over to Lily, his expression more serious than she had ever seen it before.

"Lily, I don't want to loose you. Tell me what I have to do to earn your trust back."

Lily sighed, once again, locking gazes with James.

"I need your word that you won't go off and betray my trust again. James, I do love you as well. That's the only reason I'm giving you this last chance."

James nodded solemnly, signifying that he understood.

"I need some kind of symbol, a…" She paused, thinking of the right words. " A guarantee that you won't leave me."

James opened his mouth to protest, "Lily I would never –"

Lily placed a finger on his lips, quieting him. "Let me finish."

He nodded again, smiling at her touch.

"All I need is your word. I trust you, James Potter. You should be thankful." Lily whispered, smiling softly.

James grinned and swooped down to kiss Lily on the cheek. Without hesitation he moved closer to her, James's face infinitely close to Lily's, the space between their lips diminishing when–

"Oh. I'll, uhm… I'll come back later…"


	5. Chapter Five

**Chapter Five**

James let out a frustrated groan and spun on the spot to see who had interrupted them.

"Bloody hell, what does it take to get some priv- Oh." James stalled. "Hi, Dorcas."

"For starters, don't even try to get any form of privacy in the middle of the common room," Dorcas stood, hands on hips eyeing the couple warily.

"Thanks for that." Lily muttered, rather stiffly. Her eyes were cast downwards to the smoldering embers in the fireplace.

"More importantly," Dorcas continued, a little gentler than before, "I need to know exactly what I've done wrong."

Lily's eyes shot up, unable to mask the cold anger and hurt now glittering in their emerald surface. Merely shaking her head she sunk down to her knees to sit on the hearth, her face glowing in the little bit of light thrown out by the burning embers.

Dorcas glanced from Lily to James, a worried yet expectant look on her face. She needed answers if her and Lily were ever going to be friends again. Or keep the friendship they still have…

Not moving too far from Lily's huddled up body, as though afraid that she would evaporate if he walked further than two steps from her, James threw Dorcas an apologetic smile.

"You know that I care for you," James began. Lily's head flicked to James ever so slightly. He coughed nervously. "That is, only as a friend."

Dorcas nodded slowly, eyebrows raised as if to show she already knew this fact.

"So," James continued, trying to gather some of his lost cool. "So, that means what we did down at the lake… Well, _almost_ did, was wrong. Very wrong…" James stole a glance at Lily's face. Her features were set in a blank, soft expression, her hair glowing a deeper red than usual in the light of the embers.

Dorcas smiled bitterly and expelled a mirthless laugh. "I know all that. And I'm glad to see that the famous Potter has a moral bone in his body." She strolled over to Lily and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"I can only hope that Lily will forgive me for my mistake." She glanced up at James as she seated herself beside Lily. "Because I could see she'd already forgiven you."

Lily turned her head to Dorcas. "I do forgive you," she said quietly. "I didn't think you valued my friendship so much." With a small smile Lily reached out and gave Dorcas a hug of forgiveness.

With a small laugh as they broke apart, Lily said, "Forgive and forget, that what I always say."

"Aww, we're just one big happy family now!" Lily felt the breath knocked out of her as she was pulled into a bone crushing bear hug, along with Dorcas, from Sirius who had just slid down the stair banister.

"Yep!" she squeaked.

Sirius chuckled as he let go of Lily, still keeping a hand around Dorcas's waist. Dorcas grinned widely and kissed him on the cheek. Sirius whispered something inaudible in her ear. She glanced at Lily and James, smirked and then nodded her head.

Sirius stretched his arms up dramatically in the air and yawned widely. "Well, I'm a bit tired, actually. All this love has taken the energy out of me."

Dorcas nodded knowingly, her usual mischievousness back in place. "I think I better get you off to bed."

"Sounds good to me!" Sirius replied, jumping to his feet with a sudden burst of energy. With a wink at James he bounced off upstairs, Dorcas following closely behind him. Throwing Lily a last grin she disappeared up the staircase.


	6. Chapter Six

**Chapter Six**

"Oh god… I _do not_ want to know what those two are up to… Poor Rem…" Lily said thoughtfully as James took her in his arms, both wrapped protectively around her waist.

"Yeah…" James said distractedly, staring at Lily's face. Lily looked up and blushed slightly.

"What?" she asked curiously.

"When you said Lucius…" James asked, cautiously.

Lily couldn't help but chuckle. "I was joking." She said, poking him playfully in the chest. "I would never give him my 'company'."

James smiled. "You have no idea how thankful I am to have you back." He said, his voice low with emotion.

Lily shivered as she felt the vibrations from his chest. "You know I wouldn't have left you." She replied, passion burning in her eyes and sounding in her voice. "I love you."

"And you have no idea how much I love you." James murmured. Their lips touched gently as he lowered his head to hers, Lily's arms wrapping around James's neck.

It deepened quickly, both of them letting out all their frustration, passion and longing for one another into the kiss. Lily ran her fingers lightly through James's hair, messing it up even more. James's hands gripped Lily tightly, running them up and down her back and around her waist.

James pulled back gently, caressing Lily's cheek gently with his thumb.

"Lily, I have something to ask you." He said hoarsely, sounding as though his voice had been lost in their kiss. Taking her hand in his, he bent down onto one knee, his wand hand behind his back.

Lily, much to her dismay, felt as though her insides were squirming and turning circles. _Oh my lord…_

"I have been in love with you ever since I saw you trip over Eliza's trunk and land face first on the floor of the train when we were eleven years old." James began, his voice deep. Lily smiled at that memory; it had been the first encounter with one of her best friends.

"I chased you from that day on and you finally came to you senses -" Lily snorted "- last year. I told you then I had never loved someone as much as you and I still stand by that."

James brought his wand hand back around to his front, although it wasn't holding a wand. With a sharp intake of breath, Lily's eyes widened.

"I never want to let you go, Lily. I wake up in the morning, feeling as though something is missing from me, a piece missing from the puzzle. But then, I see you and the piece is filled. I'm whole again. With Voldemort killing people everyday in these hard times, I don't think I can survive much longer if I can't know for _sure_ that I will always be whole."

Lily bit her lip and tried with all her might to stop the tears welling up in her eyes to spill over.

James let go of Lily's hand and flicked open the little box he hand been holding. A slender silver ring set with a three precious stones stood elegantly on the black velvet; a small, square-cut sparkling diamond, a larger square-cut emerald and another square-cut diamond.

"Lily Anne Evans, would you do me the honor of filling my missing piece of the puzzle by giving me your hand in marriage?"

Lily gasped at the ring but held no hesitation as she gave James her hand.

"Yes." She said smiling and laughing through her now streaming tears. James carefully slipped the ring onto her finger, admiring it.

Lily lunged forward and hugged James before he had a chance to stand up, sending the pair toppling backwards onto the carpet.

Grinning, James kissed Lily and stroked her hair as she rested her head comfortably on his chest. "I love you, so much." He whispered.

"I love you too," Lily whispered back, looking at the beautiful ring on her finger. "So much it hurts."

Kissing her gently on the forehead James grabbed a cushion off the nearest couch and slid it under his head. Snuggling closer to him, Lily slowly closed her eyes, a smile on her lips.

_I'm getting married to the man of my dreams…!_

The pair stayed like that for the rest of the night, not caring about what people might say when they came downstairs to head off to breakfast. Not worrying about being sore from sleeping on the ground. Not giving a damn about homework for once.

They were blissfully happy where they were. They cared an incredible amount for each other and _nothing_ could break them apart.

The after effects of betrayal aren't always a tragedy…

_Woo! I know, only 6 chapters but it turned out pretty good in the end. I had no idea where I was going with this story, but I really do like the proposal. Soppy, yes. Corny, yes. Gorgeous, absolutely!_

_I hope you all have enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. A special shout out to lostindreams1001 for reviewing so often, as to everyone else who seemed to think it was alright._

_There might be more from my end, you never know._

_So long!_

_FemaleMarauder_


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